Archive for September, 2016

BY GILAD ATZMON – Last week, Britain’s veteran chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks lectured to the European Parliament on antisemitism. The rabbi’s mission was to define antisemitism, but instead he just demonstrated some of the most problematic symptoms of Jewish supremacy, tribal arrogance and even crude Goy-hatred. Unwittingly, the rabbi didn’t make the Jews look too good.

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE – If one American geneticist is correct, the list of groups known to make up the Twelve Tribes of Israel may need urgent updating. According to Donald Yates, there is compelling evidence that within the Cherokee nation of American Indians, mothers and other matrilineal forbearers bear bona fide Middle East Jewish genetic markers.

HAARETZ – I have been arrested at demonstrations, rushed by police lines, screamed at by angry strangers, and thrust into uncomfortable public arguments with elected leaders. Yet, across years of activism, I’ve never been as frightened as I was when I attended a Donald Trump rally in my home state of North Carolina this summer.

THE FORWARD – Federal prosecutors charged three Brooklyn couples lying about their assets to qualify for a raft of government programs meant to aid poor people. The six men and women, all in their late thirties and early forties, were arrested in Williamsburg on September 27. News of their arrests spread fast on Orthodox social media channels.

In theory, one can be anti-Zionist and not anti-Semitic, but that is a more subtle distinction than it is generally assumed to be. One can support the continued existence of the Jewish people without supporting our rights to independence, political mobilization, equality in the global system, or self-definition. One can also value Jewish lives in theory without valuing them in practice. The thin line between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism should be constantly critiqued, problematized, and challenged, lest it serve as a rhetorical tool to enable anti-Zionists to obfuscate the disturbing natural conclusions of what they advocate.

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE – The chairman of the Conservative Party has dismissed suggestions that the Tories are not doing enough to appeal to the Jewish community. Sir Patrick McLoughlin said it was “a bit unfair” for critics to claim his party had largely remained silent during Labour’s antisemitism crisis.

On Sunday, Matthew Gordon Banks was sacked by the party after accusing party leader Tim Farron of winning his position due to the financing of his campaign by “London Jews”. In response, Marie van der Zyl, Vice President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews (BOD), said: “The comments by Matthew Gordon Banks on Twitter are of very deep concern. He talks about Jews and money and hints at the age-old canard of the ‘Jewish conspiracy.’”